Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta

Prince Amedeo
Duke of Aosta
Duke of Aosta
Predecessor	Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke
Successor	Aimone, 4th Duke
Spouse	Princess Anne of Orléans
Issue
Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este Maria Cristina, Princess Casimir of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Full name
Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni
House	House of Savoy
Father	Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta
Mother	Princess Hélène of Orléans
Born	21 October 1898(1898-10-21) Turin
Died	3 March 1942(1942-03-03) (aged 43) Nairobi

Italian Royalty
House of Savoy

Victor Emmanuel II Children Princess Marie Clothilde Umberto I (born 1844) Amadeo I, King of Spain (born 1845) Maria Pia, Queen of Portugal (born 1847) Vittoria (born 2 December 1848) Emanuele Alberto (born 16 March 1851), Count of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda. Grandchildren Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin Luigi, Duke of the Abruzzi Umberto, Count of Salemi Great Grandchildren Amedeo, 3rd Duke of Aosta Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta Great Great Grandchildren Margherita, Archduchess of Austria-Este Princess Maria Cristina Amedeo, 5th Duke of Aosta Great Great Great Grandchildren Princess Bianca Aimone, Duke of Apulia Princess Mafalda Umberto I Children Victor Emmanuel III Victor Emmanuel III Children Princess Yolanda Princess Mafalda Umberto II Giovanna, Queen of Bulgaria Princess Maria Umberto II Children Princess Maria Pia Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples Princess Maria Gabriella Princess Maria Beatrice Grandchildren Emanuele Filiberto, Prince of Venice and Piedmont Great Grandchildren Princess Vittoria Princess Luisa

Prince Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta (21 October 1898 – 3 March 1942) was the third Duke of Aosta and a first cousin, once removed of the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III. His baptismal name was Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni di Savoia-Aosta. During World War II, he was the Italian Viceroy of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI).

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Education and early military career 1.2 Viceroy and governor-general 1.3 World War II 1.4 Death 1.5 Aftermath 2 Family 3 See also 4 Ancestry 5 References

Biography

Amedeo was born in Turin, Piedmont, to Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta (son of Amadeus I of Spain and Princess Maria Vittoria) and Princess Hélène (daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and the Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans). His great-grandfather was King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, making him a member of the House of Savoy. He was known from birth by the courtesy title of Duke of Apulia.

Amedeo was a very tall man. According to Amedeo Guillet, he was once referred to by a journalist as "your highness" (which in Italian could also be interpreted to mean "your height"). The Duke replied, perhaps in jest: "198 centimetres" (6 feet, 6 inches).

Education and early military career

Amedeo was educated at Eton College and Oxford University in England. He cultivated British mannerisms, spoke Oxford English, and even enjoyed the pastimes of fox hunting and polo. Amedeo entered the Italian Royal Army (Regio Esercito) and fought with distinction in the artillery during World War I. He left the army in 1921 and traveled widely in Africa.

Amedeo subsequently rejoined the Italian armed forces and became a pilot. In 1932, he joined the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica). Amedeo served under Marshall Rodolfo Graziani and Libyan Governor Pietro Badoglio during later stages of the pacification of Libya (1911 to 1932). Amedeo and his fellow airmen harried the Senussi forces of Omar Mukhtar from the sky.^[1] When hostilities in Libya came to an end in early 1932, much was made of the participation of the "Duke of Apulia" as the commander of the airmen who forced the Senussi to flee Libya and seek relief in Egypt.^[2]

On 4 July 1931, upon the death of his father, Amedeo became the Duke of Aosta.

Viceroy and governor-general

In 1937, after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, the Duke of Aosta replaced Marshal Graziani as Viceroy and as Governor-General of Italian East Africa. It was generally conceded that he was a vast improvement over Graziani. As Viceroy and Governor-General, the Duke of Aosta was also the Commander-in-Chief of all Italian military forces in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland.

World War II

When Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France on 10 June 1940, the Duke of Aosta became the commander of the Italian forces in what is known as the East African Campaign of World War II. He oversaw the initial Italian advances into the Sudan and Kenya and, in August, he oversaw the Italian invasion of British Somaliland.^[3]

In January 1941, the British launched a counter-invasion and the Italians went on defensive in East Africa. The Italians fought stubbornly throughout February. But, after fierce resistance, the Battle of Keren ended in Italian defeat,^[4] the rest of Eritrea, including the port of Massawa, fell quickly. On 31 January, the Duke of Aosta reported that the Italian military forces in East Africa were down to 67 operational aircraft with limited fuel. With supplies running low and with no chance of re-supply, the Duke of Aosta opted to concentrate the remaining Italian forces into several strongholds: Gondar, Amba Alagi, Dessie, and Gimma. He himself commanded the 7,000 Italians at the mountain fortress of Amba Alagi. With his water supply compromised, surrounded, and attacked by 9,000 British and Commonwealth troops and more than 20,000 Ethiopian irregulars, the Duke of Aosta surrendered Amba Alagi on 18 May 1941. Due to their gallant resistance, the British awarded him and his men a surrender with military honors.^[5]

Death

Shortly after his surrender, the Duke of Aosta was interned in a prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya. He was placed in command of his fellow prisoners, but never saw the end of World War II. On 3 March 1942, shortly after his internment, he died at the prison camp, reportedly as a result of complications from both tuberculosis and malaria.^[6] Amedeo was succeeded by his brother, Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta. From 18 May 1941, the same day Amedeo surrendered Amba Alagi, Aimone was also known as King Tomislav II of Croatia.

Aftermath

Amedeo was well known and highly regarded for being a gentleman. In one instance, before he fled his headquarters at Addis Ababa, he wrote a note to the British to thank them in advance for protecting the women and children in the cities.

Count Galeazzo Ciano, Italian Foreign Minister under his father-in-law Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, paid Amedeo a high compliment in his famous diaries. Upon being given the news of the Duke's death Ciano wrote, "So dies the image of a Prince and an Italian. Simple in his ways, broad in outlook, and humane in spirit."

Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia was also impressed by the respect and care that the Duke of Aosta showed to the exiled Emperor's personal property left behind in Addis Ababa. In a gesture of thanks, the Emperor during his state visit to Italy in 1953 invited the widowed Duchess of Aosta to tea during his stay in Milan, but was then informed by the Italian government that receiving the Duchess would cause offense to the Italian Republic, and so the Emperor sadly canceled the visit. Instead he invited the 5th Duke of Aosta to Ethiopia in the mid-60s, and accorded him all the protocol due to visiting royalty.

Family

Amedeo was married 5 November 1927, in Naples, to his first cousin HRH Princess Anne of Orléans (1906–1986), daughter of Prince Jean of Orléans, styled Duc de Guise, and his wife Princess Isabelle of Orléans (herself daughter of Prince Philippe of Orléans and the Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain). By birth, the Duke and Duchess of Aosta were thus in distant remainder to the Spanish Throne.

They had two daughters, both marrying royal princes:

• Margherita Isabella Maria Vittoria Emanuela Elena Gennara (born 7 April 1930). She married on 28 December 1953 HI and RH Archduke Robert, styled Archduke of Austria-Este (1915–1996), second son of the last Austrian emperor Karl I, and has issue three sons and two daughters.
• Maria Cristina Giusta Elena Giovanna (born 10 September 1933 at Miramar), who married on 29 January 1967 HRH Prince Casimiro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, descended from Spanish princes (of the house of Bourbon or Borbon) ruling in Sicily, and has issue two sons and two daughters.

Margherita's eldest son HIRH Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este acquired the title Prince of Belgium (from 10 November 1995) by virtue of his marriage to HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, only daughter of King Albert II of Belgium. Their two sons and three daughters are members of the Belgian Royal Family, and as such use the surname "de Belgique" or its variants.

See also

• Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
• History of Libya as Italian Colony
• Colonial heads of Italian East Africa
• East African Campaign (World War II)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta

16. Charles Albert of Sardinia               8. Victor Emmanuel II of Italy                       17. Maria Theresa of Tuscany               4. Amadeo I of Spain                             18. Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria               9. Maria Adelaide of Austria                       19. Princess Elisabeth of Savoy-Carignan               2. Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta                                   20. Giuseppe Alfonso dal Pozzo, 4th Prince della Cisterna               10. Carlo Emanuele dal Pozzo, Prince della Cisterna                       21. Maria Anna Carlotta Balbo Bertone               5. Maria Vittoria del Pozzo della Cisterna                             22. Werner, Count of Mérode               11. Louise of Mérode                       23. Countess Victoire de Spangen d'Uyternesse               1. Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta                                         24. Louis-Philippe I, King of the French               12. Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans                       25. Maria Amalia of Naples               6. Prince Philippe, Count of Paris                             26. Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               13. Duchess Helen of Mecklenburg-Schwerin                       27. Princess Karoline Luise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach               3. Princess Hélène of Orléans                                   28. Louis-Philippe I, King of the French = 24               14. Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier                       29. Maria Amalia of Naples = 25               7. Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans                             30. Ferdinand VII of Spain               15. Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain                       31. Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies

References

Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta House of Savoy Born: 21 October 1898 Died: 3 March 1942
Government offices
Preceded by The Marquis of Neghelli	Viceroy and Governor-General of Italian East Africa 21 December 1937 – 19 May 1941	Succeeded by Pietro Gazzera
Italian nobility
Preceded by Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta	Duke of Apulia 21 October 1898 – 4 July 1931	Succeeded by Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta
	Duke of Aosta 2nd creation 4 July 1931 – 3 March 1942
	Prince della Cisterna 4 July 1931 – 3 March 1942
	Prince of Berliguardo 4 July 1931 – 3 March 1942
	Marquis of Vorghera 4 July 1931 – 3 March 1942
	Count of Ponderano 4 July 1931 – 3 March 1942

Dukes of Aosta Charles Emmanuel III (1701–1715) · Victor Amadeus (1723–1725) · Emanuele Filiberto (1731–1735) · Carlo (1738–1745) · Victor Emmanuel I (1759–1802) · Amadeo (1845–1890) · Emanuele Filiberto (1890–1931) · Amadeus (1931–1942) · Aimone (1942–1948) · Amadeus (1948–present)

Persondata
Name	Aosta, Amedeo, 3rd Duke Of
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 October 1898
Place of birth	Turin
Date of death	3 March 1942
Place of death	Nairobi